Aberfan disaster

The Aberfan disaster was a coal mining disaster which occurred at 9:15 AM on 21 October 1966 in the South Wales village of Aberfan. Heavy rainfall had caused a depression at colliery spoil tip number seven to fill with water, and 300,000 cubic yards of slurry slid down the mountainside and into the village below, killing 116 children and 28 adults as it engulfed the Pantglas Junior School and several other buildings. National Coal Board guidelines suggested that tips should not be more than 20 feet tall, but the overflowed tip had been over 100 feet tall. In the aftermath of the disaster, National Coal Board member Geoffrey Morgan, Minister of State for Wales George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy, and several other government officials were accused by the villagers of being "murderers" and responsible for the disaster, as the government (albeit a Conservative one and not the incumbent Labour government) had known about the problem with the tips since the 1950s. In order to divert national attention from the issue, the Labour Party criticized Queen Elizabeth II for her conspicuous absence from the site of the disaster, leading to Queen Elizabeth herself flying to Aberfan to meet the families of the victims and pay her condolences. The Queen would later privately state that her delayed response to the Aberfan disaster was her greatest regret. Despite the great destruction caused by the disaster and the negligence of the NCB, no official or organization was ever officially charged with negligence.